1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of medical instrument care and business methods in medical advertising and sales.
2. Background Information
We have a near epidemic of hospital-borne opportunistic infections that are transmitted primarily to the very young, the very old, and the very weak. These three populations are in the majority in every hospital population around the country. What can be done to prevent the spread of these infections? Proper aseptic technique, simple procedures such as frequent hand-washing, and proper cleansing of medical equipment can all be used to help prevent the spread of infections such as Nosocomial Pneumonia, one common bacterial infection that is spread in hospitals. Such drastic measures as “single use medical devices” have been proposed to help solve this problem. The solution we propose today is much cheaper, much simpler, and much more practical.
The stethoscope is a piece of medical equipment that no doctor can be without. The typical doctor uses a stethoscope dozens of times a day. And yet, less than 2% of the estimated 30 million stethoscopes in use today are cleaned between patient assessments. That part of the stethoscope that comes in contact with the patient is called the diaphragm and it can harbor untold numbers of germs. If doctors and nurses were given a simple, quick, convenient way to sterilize their stethoscope diaphragms they would be much more likely to perform this simple, yet effective task. Currently, they must hunt down a bottle of alcohol and a cotton ball, saturate the cotton ball with alcohol, and then disinfect their stethoscope diaphragm. Or, they must find an individual alcohol packet, tear it open, sterilize their stethoscope, and then discard the trash.
With today's invention it takes one second and a quick swipe to sterilize the one piece of medical equipment that virtually every patient comes in contact with—the stethoscope. By quickly inserting the stethoscope diaphragm into the stethoscope cleansing unit and then removing, medical personnel can ensure a clean, sterile surface with which to examine their next patient.
One of the main challenges in advertising to the medical community is providing advertising that will actually make an impression on a busy doctor or nurse. Combine a method that will make an impression with a method that will actually be of great use to members of the medical community and their patients, and you would have an unbeatable combination. The present invention is just such a method.
The method of advertising proposed by the present business method takes the common practice of “give-aways” to a new and practical height. Typically, doctors and nurses are given pencils, pads, combs, fingernail files, key holders, demonstration tools, or any number of small gifts that are emblazoned with a marketer's logo and are meant to keep the advertising company's name in mind. These items end up at home, in the car, with the spouse or children, stuck in a drawer, or in the trash. With today's advertising method, the proposed give-away is something useful, practical, and is meant to be kept in every examining room, right beside the ever-present box of disposable gloves. These give-aways are stethoscope cleansing units that are compact and effective. In only one second, the doctor or nurse can disinfect her stethoscope diaphragm and move on to the next patient. All the while being subtly influenced by the message on the stethoscope cleansing unit itself.
Further, while its presence in the examining room makes the stethoscope cleansing unit convenient for medical personnel to use, and therefore an ideal location for medical products advertising, the fact that the patient is typically kept waiting in examining rooms makes all objects found in that room “prime real estate” for any marketer's advertisement. Who hasn't spent many minutes, or even hours, waiting in an examining room for the doctor? The time is usually spent gazing about the room looking for something interesting to see or read. That is exactly why medical examining rooms always have public service posters in them. Where else can be found such a captive audience for a poster on the heartbreak of fungal toe infections? The presence of any retail marketer's advertisement on a stethoscope cleansing unit, placed conveniently beside the disposable gloves, will be seen and read by virtually all patients who find themselves waiting in that examining room. This novel business method of advertising has a captive, and therefore attentive, audience.